English novel - Aghast : Ch-10 I am sorry

It was dark in the corridor. The lights in the corridor were either stolen or broken by the hostellers. A shadowy image walked across the corridor slowly. And a few steps away from it were John, Anthony, and their two friends crouched down, hiding behind a pillar. It seemed that they had decided today to catch the thief, whatever it may happen. They were hiding behind the pillar since long, waiting for the thief to come. As they saw the shadow they were delighted. At last their efforts were going to be useful soon, they thought. A joyful whispering started among them.
“Careful.... this is going to be a good chance to get him.” John murmured in low voice, to make them quiet.
They moved forward and hide behind another pillar. They were fully prepared and preplanned, distributing the tasks among them. One friend carried a black blanket with him.
“ He's stopped... “ John said in low voice.
The shadow stopped at one of the room.
“ Whose room is that...? “ One of them asked.
“ Mary’s.... “ Anthony answered.
The image stood in front of Mary’s door, put in the key in the keyhole.
“ He has the key? “ Somebody whispered.
“ Must be master key”
“ Or may be duplicate key, he seems to be sufficiently preplanned”
“ He can’t deny it now ... we'll catch him red handed.” John said enthusiastically.
John and Anthony glanced back, signaled their friends to move forward.
“ Come on... Let’s do it.” Anthony said.
The image was trying to open the lock.
Suddenly all of them rushed over the image. Anthony covered the thief with the blanket. John held him firmly.
“ Hey first let’s beat him’’
His other friends started beating the thief.
“ Asshole...”
“ Show us where you have hidden the stuff.”
“ Uuuu ...Aaaa...” From under the blanket a trapped voice was coming,
Suddenly the front door opened. Mary came out in confusion. She must have heard the noises going on in front of her room. As the door opened it illuminated the trapped figure in the blanket.
“ What is going on here? “ Merry asked scared.
“ We have caught the thief” Anthony said.
“ He was opening your door with the duplicate key” John said.
While holding the trapped thief, John felt something odd on thief’s body. In confusion, John put both his hands inside the blanket. As he put his hands inside, his grip eased and the image immediately came out.
“Oh my God Nancy? Merry cried.
Nancy Collins, around 22 was a beautiful girl from their class. John was confused, still holding her breasts. She released herself and slapped John hard as she can.
Johns was clueless, what to do next, said, “I'm sorry I'm really sorry”
“ We're sorry “ Anthony promptly apologized
“ But what are you doing here at this time of the night? “ Merry asked in surprise, approaching her and helping her to get up.
“Idiot... I was trying to surprise you. I came to wish you a happy birthday “ Nancy said in irritation.
“ Oh, thank you... I mean sorry... I mean are you OK?” Merry said in confusion.
Mary took Nancy in her room. As John tried to enter the room to apologize her, the door closed in his face.

..contd..

English novel - Aghast : Ch-9 A few days ago

Detective Sam sat across from Detective Baker. Detective Baker was in charge of this police station. As soon as his phone had come, Sam had lost his desire to play the next game. Immediately he had packed off and came to Detective Baker’s police station instead of going to his own. As they completed their ‘Hi.. Hallow’ formalities, he sat across him to listen to the information he had about the case. Detective Baker took a long pause. Though Detective Sam did not show on his face, his curiosity had reached to its peak.

Detective Baker started to reveal the story, “A few days ago a case came to me.....

.... It was a beautiful town, beautiful green grass and quiet houses all around. The groups of houses seemed to be like groups of twinkling stars spread everywhere in the sky. And in the middle the house groups was an ancient college building nestled in the town.

In the college corridor it was a rush of students, as it was break time. Some students were chit chatting in groups while others were roaming around. John Carter, age around 22, smart, handsome, and his friend Anthony Clark, age around 22, were walking in the corridor, making way through the other college students walking across.
“Anthony, let’s go and sit in Dr. Albert’s class.” John said.
“Are you sure? “ Anthony said in surprise, “I mean, you ok?”
“Just, let’s go and check. Is he still here or did he leave already?” John said. Both of them burst out laughing as if remembering some incident.

Suddenly, while walking John hints at a boy passing by. Anthony looked at him quizzically.
“ That's the boy who's been stealing from the dorms.” John told him in low voice.
By that time the boy had crossed them. Anthony looked back at the boy. Anthony also had lost few things from the hostel.
“How do you know? “ Anthony asked.
“Just look at him.. Don’t you feel like he is a trained thief “ John said.
“It is not sufficient... we need some proof” Anthony said.
“Alex also told me... He'd seen him loitering around in the dorms late at night.” John said.
“ Is it? ... then Let's teach him a lesson.” Anthony said enthusiastically.
“ Yeah, one that he'll remember forever. “ John added.
“ If he lives here that long. “
Both of them laughed.

...contd..

English novel - Aghast : Ch-8 golf

Detective Sam was playing golf. It seemed it was his daily practice to play golf to overcome daily stress and tensions. He motioned his tee and hit the ball hard. The ball through aerial root traveled towards the hole. As ball felt on the ground, bounced two - three times and trembled towards the hole. The ball stopped around just six feet away from the hole. Sam went to the ball. He estimated about the slope of the ground, motioned his tee above the ball, and cautiously hit it in the right direction with the right force. Ball glided and went right into the hole. Detective Sam's face beamed with triumph, when his mobile rang. He saw the display. But the number seemed to be new. He pressed the button and attended the phone, ''Yes''
" Detective Baker here" voice came from other side.
" Yeah" Sam said preparing for the new game.
" If I am not mistaken, you are in charge of the serial killer case ...''
'' Yeah"
As there was mention of serial killer case Sam abandoned the thought of playing next game.
" If you could come down, I've got some information about the case which might be useful." Baker said from other side.
'' Yeah, Sure" He motioned the boy passing by to pack off.
Sam fixed with baker the time to meet and accompanied the boy to return.

... contd..

English novel - Aghast : Ch-7 Ronald Parker

Ronald Parker, around 25, Stylist, handsome, was slept in his bedroom. He was stirring impatiently, which showed he was disturbed. For a while he tried to sleep, stirring, moving, but was not able to sleep. He got out of the bed, took a look around, then sat down again. He took a magazine from beside the bed, lied back and leafed through it. There was a nude figure on the magazine cover.
Sex is the best way to relax...
He thought. Suddenly a loud ‘THUD’ sound came from the other room. Startled, disturbed he got up.
What sound is it? ...
Never heard before..
Why did I got so afraid and disturbed?...
Probably because of the mental state I had today...
He went to the bedroom door, and unlocked it. He slowly opened the door and peeked outside.

After he looked around in the house, he entered the foyer, switched on the lights, and looked around. There was nothing odd.
Everything is as it is...
He switched off the lights, and went to the kitchen.

In kitchen also it was dark. He switched on the lights, looked around. There was nothing odd. Now he seemed to be overcame from his fears.
There is nothing...
Unnecessary I got scared..
As he was about to return, something in the sink caught his attention. His eyes widened, fear crept over his face, and his face started sweating. He started trembling.
He saw a severed piece of flesh on the sink, blood around it. Without loosing a second he ran from the kitchen. He was not sure what to do next. He went to the bedroom slammed back the door and latched it from inside.

... contd..

English novel - Aghast :Ch-6: Panic

Detective Sam was sipping a coffee with his associate officer. They were discussing something very important. From their gestures it was evident that the discussion going on in between them was probably of the serial killer case. In between they ware taking small swigs of the coffee. Suddenly a TV news report grabbed their attention.

“ The body of a second victim was found today, the similarity and brutality are identical to another body found earlier this week, we leads many to feel that we are faced with a possible serial killer. It is believed that the bodies have been found in rooms which have been locked from inside, however the police are unwilling to comment upon this. Whilst the city braces itself for news of any further killings, residents near the crime scene, although shaken by the events, have been comforted by the revealing of information that both victims had extensive criminal records which may be the motive for the killer's actions, although the police are at present not willing to comment upon this.”

“ Well if it's media attention the killer wants, he's certainly starting to get it.” Detective Sam told his associate. But the officer seating across Detective Sam did not speak anything, as he was absorbed in hearing the news.

It was panic everywhere in the city. The serial killer was openly roaming around in the city and the police were unable to catch him. How many more names were on his list?
Who was his next victim?
And why he was killing the people?
With some purpose? or without any?...
Nobody knew the answers

... contd....

English novel - Aghast :Ch-5: Piece of a flesh

Kids were playing in the playground with no cares in the world. Suddenly the sirens of the police cars scare the kids as they ran back to their parents. Police cars were running speedily on the road. The cars departed with the speed with which they came, and turned to the right on the next turn.

Police cars stopped by the house making ear-splitting siren noise. As soon as the cars stopped, a team in the leadership of Sam got down the cars and ran towards the house.
" Two of you go and look around the house" Sam ordered to his two teammates. They left behind the group and started investigating, one from right side of the house and the other from left. Detective Sam and other members assembled at the front door. One of the police, Jeff pressed the doorbell. It rang, but no movement inside. They waited for a while, Jeff again pressed the doorbell and knocked the door too this time.
" Hello... open the door" One of them knocked the door again.
But there was no movement inside. Sam was annoyed, he ordered, “Kick it open."
Jeff and his two colleagues were literally banging on the door.
" Here... push here with force"
" No ... the latch would be somewhere here"
" Forcefully... some more force"
" Everybody just don't be busy with pushing,... Somebody guard us"
At last they kicked the door open.
As the door opened, the team rushed in. Detective Sam was entering cautiously holding a loaded weapon. The others followed him guarding each other. As they were about to spread in the house, they caught sight of a dreadful scene in the hall. Their faces faded away. It was Paul's corpse lying on the sofa, his neck cut, eyes bulged out, head turned to one side, and the things in the hall littered around. He was also murdered in the same way. It was evident from the littered things that he must have struggled hard to survive.
" Search around in the house" Sam ordered.
Three-four members of the team spread all over the house.
" Search in bedroom too" Sam continued.

Detective Sam looked around in the room. He saw the TV screen spotted with blood streamlet, and the piece of flesh lying on the top of the TV. Sam signaled one of the investigation team members. Immediately he went to the TV and started to collect the evidences there. Then Sam looked at the windows of the hall. Windows were locked from inside. Suddenly something odd on the sofa caught Detective Sam's attention.
He reached and held it. It was a bunch of hairs lying on the bed, beside the corpse.
They looked at him, a strange silence. One of the investigation team members came forward and bagged the bunch. Jeff was looking at the bunch and the piece of flesh alternatively. His mind... not only his mind, almost all's mind was filled with so many unanswered questions. But to whom they should ask was the next immediate question.

..contd..

Free Novels - Aghast Ch-4: Paul Roberts

Paul Roberts, around 25, black, curly hairs, height five feet ten inches, was slept in his bedroom. His bedroom was not neatly kept, empty wine bottles, magazines with nude photographs on the cover were littered around. Nude, half nude photographs of his favorite heroines were pasted all over on his bedroom walls. His bedroom was quite similar to the Steven's, the only difference was that his bedroom had two windows, those also were closed and latched. The windows were not closed because the room had AC, but probably as a part of caution. He was slept on a thick, soft, silky bed, and held a similar, thick, soft silky pillow tightly at his chest. He was stirring restlessly. When he felt that he can’t sleep, he got up. He seemed to be disturbed. He strolled in the room, uneasily, wore the slipper kept in the corner and went out of the bedroom.
What to do now? ...
He thought and went towards the kitchen। He entered the kitchen, switched on the bulb. Then he went to the fridge, opened it, and removed a water bottle. Quickly he drank the whole bottle in few gulps. Holding an almost empty bottle in hand he went to the foyer.

The foyer was in complete darkness. Paul sat on a chair.
Let's watch TV...
He thought and picked up a remote kept on a side table. As he switched on the TV, his eyes go wide, his face became pale and sweaty, and he started shivering dreadfully. He saw the streamlet of blood came from the top of the TV and ran down the TV screen. Suddenly he got up, fumbled, and switched on the light in the room.
There is nobody in the room..
Then how did it happened..
He looked at the TV
Shuffling he goes to the telephone and dials a number. A big piece of fresh flesh was kept on the top of the TV, which was still bleeding.
Shuffling he went to the telephone and dialed a number with his trembling hands.
.. contd..

Ch-3: Post mortem report ( Free Novels - Aghast )

Detective Sam sat on his place in the police station. An officer came to him, handed him over the postmortem documents. Sam leafed through them and the officer sat beside him, briefing him in between about the postmortem report.
“ It says, neck cut is the cause of his death, but the post-mortem did not reveal any information about the weapon used for the murder” The officer supplied the information.
“ Amazing?” Sam said, as if to self, “And what about the hairs found at the site?”
“ We examined those ... but they were not human hair.” Officer said.
“Not human hairs?”
“Maybe the killer is inhuman.” An officer came, said jokingly, joining their conversation.
Though he said jokingly, they didn’t spoke for a while, just looked at each other. There was an awkward silence in the room.
“ I mean it must be from a coat or clothing.” the officer sat beside Sam said, trying to normalize the atmosphere.
“Any clue about the motive?" Sam continued.
“ Everything valuable in the house was intact, and we found no fingerprints other than the victims.” Officer provided the information.
“Well, if the suspect is inhuman, they don't need any motive” The officer intruded again jokingly.
Again few seconds passed with an awkward silence.
“ Look officer ... here the serious matter is going on... and please for God’s sake don’t talk nonsense like this” Sam warned the officer.
“I've been reading the victim's file, he's got quite an impressive record. We could be dealing with some enmity or revenge” Sam continued his conversation with the officer sitting beside him.
“If he only kills criminals...” The officer again tried to intrude in between them; Sam looked at him with an angry stance.
“ I mean ... If he only kills criminals, at least it makes our job easier.” The officer said this time using his words carefully.
“ Remember it's our job to protect and serve...” Sam said.
“ Even to criminals?’’ The officer said bitterly.
Sam did not speak anything; in fact he might not had words to reply his argument.

Ch-2: Evidence ( Free Novels - Aghast )

There was morning rush, hurrying for office, on the road. Therefore it was quite crowded. Suddenly a police vehicle rushed through the crowd. The atmosphere around became tense, as the vehicle was rushing with its ear splitting siren sound. The crowd on the road split immediately to give it a way to go. The ones who were walking on the footpath were looking back at the departing vehicle with curious, fearful expressions on their faces. As the vehicle departed the atmosphere on the road remained tense for a while and then gradually became normal.

A forensic team member was investigating at the open door of the bedroom. He was searching for the possible evidences through his thick glass lens. Suddenly he heard a sound of shoes, somebody walking in discipline. Before he could turn he heard a stern voice, “Where is the body?’’
“Sir, Here ... here inside...” He said getting up in respect.
Detective Sam White, around 35-36, highly disciplined, height around 6ft 2 inches, strong build, went in, in the direction shown by his team member.

When Detective Sam reached the bedroom he saw Steven’s corpse in the pool of blood on the bed. His eyes were bulged out and the neck and head was hanging to a side. His neck was cut and it was apparent from the condition of the bed that he must have struggled hard to survive. Sam surveyed around. One of his team members was brushing something to collect evidences and the other one was busy in taking photographs.
His other team member briefed him up -
“ Sir the victim is Steven Smith, 25 ...”
“ Got any fingerprints?” Sam asked him before he had finished his briefing.
“ No sir... not yet”
“ Make sure everything is covered” Sam instructed the photographer passing by.
“ Yes sir” he promptly replied.
Suddenly Sam’s attention was caught by something odd.
He went to the bedroom door. The latch and the portion around it was broken.
“The killer must have entered by kicking open the door. ” Sam said.
Jeff, around 35, dwarf, fat, one of his team members came forward, “
No sir, actually I broke it. When we arrived, the door was locked from the inside.”
“ You broke it?” Sam said in surprise.
“ Yes sir”
“ Back to your old routine then Mr. Bell. “ Sam said jokingly, but not showing so on his face.
“ Yes sir, I mean no sir. “
Sam turned and thrown a glance at room’s windows, which were still closed. In fact the room had only one window and it was closed. It was but natural as the room was AC.
“If the door was locked from inside, And the windows were closed, then how did the killer enter the room? “ Sam asked, as if to self.
Astonished, everybody looked at each other.
“ More importantly sir, how the hell did he escape?” Jeff said.
Detective just gave a stern look to Jeff.
Suddenly everybody's attention was caught by an investigating officer who found some pieces of hairs around the bed
“ Hairs? Bag them and get them to the labs.” Sam instructed.

...contd..

Ch-1: A horrified Scream. ( Free Novels - Aghast )

It was a dark gloom night and it was raining like a hell. Everywhere around in the atmosphere cricket’s chirping sound could be heard. On a huge tree, near the bungalow, an owl soaked in the rain water, sat. Its penetrating flitting eyes moved around and settled on a window through which the light was coming out. It was the only window of the bungalow which was illuminating, rest of the lights in the bungalow were off. Suddenly a group of pigeons, sat at the window for shelter, flied off fluttering their wings in fear. Probably they would have sensed the presence of some invisible being there. Since the window glasses were opaque, colored white, the interior of the room was not visible. Was an invisible being present at the window? And if yes ... Was it trying to enter in? But the window was latched from inside.


In the bedroom a figure could be seen slept in the bed. As the figure turned around in sleep its face turned to other side. Therefore it was not possible to make out who it was. On the bedside table a spectacle was kept, probably the figure would have removed it before going to bed. All around in the bedroom bottles of wine, news papers, magazines were spread clumsily around. The bedroom door was closed and latched from inside. The one and the only one window of the bedroom was also closed and latched as it was an AC room. Again the figure slept turned around, this time turning its face to make it visible. Steven Smith, around 25-26, thin build, some sparse stubbles visible on his face. His eyes were surrounded with round black spots formed by the spectacle. Something, if it was, started to approach Steven slowly and steadily. Suddenly, as Steven sensed it in the sleep, he got up startled. Whatever it was, was standing right in front of him, ready to attack. A fear crept over Steven’s face, he was trembling, sweating and was panting within fractions second. Before he could resist or get away, it attacked him. A helpless, horrified scream spread all around in the atmosphere. And then it was silence again all over... as it was before.
... cond...

English Novel - Ahast - A horror supense thriller starting on 17th April

Aghast - A horror suspense thriller novel based on my english screenplay 'Latched', registered with Film Writer's Association, Andheri, Mumbai is starting from 17th April in blog form. The story is again, like the previous novel, is based in the western, American premises. I hope the readers will give the equal response to this novel as they have given, and still are giving to the previous novel 'Zero'

Zero - English Suspense Thriller Complete Novel

Some selected comments about this Novel

A Note for your reading convinience - The chapter from which you want to start, first click on the chapter. Then as you completes the chapter click on 'Newer Posts' link to read the next subsequent chapters, so that you need not come to this page again and again.

Ch-1:Happy Go Unlucky Ch-2:The sky falls Ch-3 : World under underworld Ch-4: Where is she? Ch-5: Heart beats again.. Ch-6: Blank Mail.. Ch 7- Heart beats again Ch 8- One More Ch 9A- First Mistake Ch 9B- First Mistake Ch 10- My God! Ch 11- Deceit Ch-12A First Date Ch-12B First Date Ch-13 Picture of Zero... Ch-14 Chase Ch-15 : What’s wrong? Ch-16 : Love Ch-17 : Boss rings Ch-18 : Command2's plan Ch-19 : Plan fails? Ch-20 : Boss sends message Ch-21 : Police City branch head visits John Ch-22 : Detective. Ch-23 : Happy birth Day. Ch-24 : Utin Hopper Ch-25 : Time Deceits? Ch-26 : Rishi Ch-27 : Investigation Ch-28 : Raid Ch-29 : Boss phones Ch-30A : Press conference Ch-30B : Press conference Ch-31 : Politics Ch-32 : Vacation Ch-33 : Some Clues Ch-34A : Fishing Ch-34B : Fishing Ch-35 : Four hours

Ch-36 : Proposal Ch-37 : Full moon Night Ch-38 : Detective’s call Ch-39 : Interruption in the vacation Ch-40 : Detective Alex Ch-41: Sudden encounter with media Ch-42: Who invented Zero? Ch-43: Again press conference Ch-44: One shot two victims Ch-45: I am sorry Ch-46: Google Search Ch-47: Yess! Ch-48: call the meeting Ch-49A: Meeting Ch-49B: Meeting Ch-49C: Meeting Ch-50A: Audio Ch-50B: Audio Ch-51: Arson Ch-52: Brahma is Complete in itself Ch-53: Y star Ch-54: Hillview Appartment Ch-55: Last message Ch-56: Last victim Ch-57: Tit for tat Ch-58: Memories Ch-59A: Aryabhatta Ch-59B: Aryabhatta Ch-60: Late in the night Ch-61: Inside the compound. Ch-62: A blossomed creeper Ch-63: Record Details Ch-64: Dr. Kayum Khan Ch-65: Paper roll Ch-66A: Zero mystery Ch-66B: Zero mystery Ch-67A: we all come from void (Zero) and vanish in void (zero) at last. Ch-67B: we all come from void (Zero) and vanish in void (zero) at last. THE END

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Ch-67B: we all come from void (Zero) and vanish in void (zero) at last. ( Novels - Zero )

City police branch head sat out in the lawn, relaxing, taking small swigs of morning tea leisurely. He was retired now; in fact due to his retirement only John could work on the case properly, and could get the credit of the case completely. City police branch head was a member of a terrorist organization, who used to press him to create obstacles in the case on which John was working. Dr. Kayum khan and Ex city police branch head were never met before but they were the member of same terrorist organization. When Dr. Kayum Khan realized about his insecure future, he requested to his superiors to transfer the responsibility from him to somebody else. His superior had suggested him Retired City branch police head as his successor.
Still taking the swigs of tea he was recalling the recent events. A day before Dr. Kayum Khan's death he had visited him. He just revealed that the organization superiors had sent him to handover the charge. Dr. Kayum Khan didn’t spoke much, just handed him over a plastic pack, wished him a best luck, and left. When Dr. Kayum Khan was killed and his photos flashed in the newspapers and on the TV channels, then only Ex city branch police head came to know that he was Dr. Kaym Khan.
After finishing his tea Ex city police branch head opened the plastic pack given by Dr. Kayum Khan. It contained some instruction documents; he precisely went through it. His heart started pounding with excitement. His blood was pumping with thrill. Though he was retired from the post of City branch police head, the organization had handed over him the responsibility of zero mystery, to continue similar serial killings in the other major cities. He kept aside the documents and peeked in the plastic pack. It contained an ancient worn out book. He took it out carefully, turned over few pages. It also contained the English notes tucked in between. He went thought those notes. Dr. Kayum Khan had transferred the astrological knowledge he had to him. Ex city branch police head was thrilled with happiness. He thought -
Is this a reward of serving the organization or his destiny...
As he went on reading the notes in the book, he was totally convinced that it must be a part of his destiny...

Pure, milky white water was making a melodies sound while flowing through rocks in the river. The rishi was walking along the bank of the river with the flowing water. After some time he reached his rocky cave. He stopped at the door, looked around, as if imbibed the beauty of the nature around with his luminous eyes. Then he leisurely went into his cave. It was dim light in the cave; he went to his seat, where he used to meditate. He arranged his seat properly and sat for meditation. In the dim light also his face was glowing. An illuminating circle could be seen around his head, like a big circle.
Slowly and gradually he concentrated and became still on void...
His eyes closed. He became still.
Ignorant from the era, the place and his body his consciousness became free to travel anywhere in the cosmos.
Then there was nothing..
No thoughts, no existence...
Nothing...
Everything was void...
Everything was zero...

THE END

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Ch-67A: we all come from void (Zero) and vanish in void (zero) at last. ( Novels - Zero )

John was driving his car in full speed. As the car came out of the city, the traffic on the road reduced, the feeling of loneliness troubled him more intensely. As John saw on the road side, the locality and the houses also became sparser as he was leaving behind the city. After traveling some distance outside the city his car took left turn and started running on the boulder road, poorly build road. A cloud of dust rose up as he was driving on the road. He had to slow down his car due to the quality of the road and the dust rising in the way. Though the distance on the boulder road was not much but it took about half an hour to reach the destination. At last his car stopped by the large wire fence. He got down parking the vehicle at the road side. He picked up the huge wreath from the back seat. He looked ahead; a huge rusted board of cemetery was hanged on the gate. Carrying the wreath he entered the cemetery. As he walked in, he felt his legs weakening and heart becoming heavy. With a heavy heart he reached a tomb. He glanced at the letters carved on the tomb. It was Anjeni’s tomb.
His Anjeni...
He offered the wreath on her tomb, stood quiet for a while with closed eyes and prayed peace for her soul. The memories of her serious, naughty, innocent moods flashed through his mind. When he opened his eyes his eyes were welled up.
They had chosen to spend their life with each other...
But id didn’t worked..
Do our desires have any value? ...
Human desires had zero value... we are just a puppet at the hands of our destinies.. .
His tears tricked down his chicks, and a drop fell on the tomb exactly in the center of the wreath. As he looked at the wreath he thought -
Really how strange human life is! We all come from void (Zero) and vanish in void (zero) at last....

... contd..

Ch-66B: Zero mystery ( Online Novel - Zero )

Reporters started firing questions at John -
“ Who is this Dr. Kayum Khan?”
“ How Vinay Joshi and Dr. Kayum Khan came togater”
“ Which organization they belong to?”
“ How both of them got killed? At least one of them should have servived”
“ Does police is trying to hide something?”
“ Can we assume that the problem is solved by killing both of them?”
“ How deep this terrorism is going to go?”
“ Hindu terrorism, Is it one more terrorism in the list?’’
“ One at a time please” John said confidently and sternly.
Crowd became calm for a while.
“ Today I have got all the answers concerned with this case .. .Therefore you need not hurry ... and since the case is closed I am totally free that way...” First time John was talking freely before reporters.
Some of the reporters giggled, the environment around became free.
One of them came forward to ask a question -
“ I think America is facing first time the Hindu terrorism... How seriously we should take it?”
John answered -
“ The incidence of a Zero mystery is not a simple some kind the other daily incident... It’s been a first incident in the American history, so wisely and perfectly planned. When we went to the root of this incident, we found some important facts. When you will come to know these facts, I think you would totally agree with me.
Fact no. 1 - The ‘Zero mystery’ is nowhere related to Hindu terrorism or Hindu religion. They are purposely related, in fact such an illusion is created so that the enemy could achieve their desired goals.
Fact no. 2 - Father of 'Zero mystery' Dr. Kayum Khan is not concerned with any Hindu organization, in fact he is a member of 'Lashkare Kayada', a terriorist organization. This organization could be an isotope of banned terrorist organizations like 'Lashkare Toyaba' or 'Al-Kayada', we reached this conclusion seeing their modus operandi.
Fact no.3 - 'Zero mystery' could be called as proxy terrorism. There objective behind conducting this operation was to ruin the relations between India and America, which are getting better these days, and in turn ruin their economies.
John took a deep breath before continuing -
“Therefore I would like to inform the whole world through you that 'Zero mystery' operation is not a Hindu terrorism, but such illusion is created purposefully by them.... Whoever we are ... may be American or Indians we should not be the victim of that illusion.... it would be equally harmful for both... Americans and Indians... ''
'' But what about the audio released on the Internet? ... It gives some different message and impression.'' Another reporter asked.
John regarded him and spoke,
" It was an attempt to provoke Indians and Americans against each other, and unfortunately to some extent they are succeeded too in it."
" As you said... I don't think so called 'Zero mystery' or whatever, would be that much harmful as you have creating the picture, except few riots here and there" One of the reporter commented.
" As they created havoc in this city by operating 'Zero mystery' .. they were planning to start similar operation in the other major cities of America too... But fortunately we have caught them before they could continue... In all this incidences if we see superficially we see that there would not be much harm to America... But if we see in dept, the picture would be different.... Today India is the only country whose majority of people are working here, some of them got American nationality too.. If all these people are made ineffective at once by provoking or by other means ... it will adversely affect our economy... Similarly most of American companies had invested in India... In India if adverse conditions are created for these companies.. it will also affect American Economy... the effect is two fold..."
“And what India is going to loose in this episode?" One of the reporters, whose base must be Indian, asked.
John wanted break badly, but nobody was ready to allow him to take break. He continued..
“Most of the people preset here must be aware that during nineties decade there was a time when Indian Economy was on verge of collapsing... For foreign exchange they were required to sell their reserved gold at that time... But subsequently the Indian economy improved due to NRI investment in their country... One good thing also happened at that time... the software industry in India flourished.. And subsequently they started outsourcing for American companies... Today also the situation is such that the Indian economy is mostly dependant on outsourcing. If this 'Zero mystery' thing aggravates and persist for some more time...Indian economy would definitely collapse... People may agree or deny... Today situation is that India and America, both are dependant on each other." John had analyzed and explained the whole situation like an expert economist.
" By killing Dr. Kayum Khan and Vinay Joshi can we say that the problem is solved?'' One more reporter asked.
'' Unfortunately the answer to your question is 'No' ... Because they tried to make the relationship between America and India sore and tense... And the people like Dr. Kayum Khan and Vinay Joshi are simply instruments at their hands... Such operations would be tried in the future too... only the difference would be instead of Dr. Kayum Khan and Vinay Joshi, somebody else would be acting in their place."
" Then what is the way out?'' the reporter continued.
" There is only one way out.. American and Indian people should keep their minds calm and act wisely understanding the purpose and seriousness in such incidences ... They should immediately stop riots... Because if it does not happen it would be as good as they are successful in their objective... and it would lead to our own downfall... and then nobody would be able to overcome us from it... Now the time has come when people should become alert and wise.. They should not allow them to be victims of odd provoking..."
Now the reporters questions did not remained concerned with the main topic, they turned their attention to the one of the major global concern 'terrorism'. Therefore John thought it is better to wind up now, because 'terrorism' was not the topic of the press conference and he did not felt proper to talk on such issue, which was not his authority. The topic 'Zero mystery' for which the press conference was called, he felt almost all the sides of the topic he had touched and given the complete information to the reporters.
As he was about to wind up a reporter said,
" You just can't run away from your responsibilities by handing over everything to the public" he said sarcastically.
John was about to turn, stopped,
" I never said so... whatever the responsibilities police had they will always stick to it...But since terrorism is not a simple incident ... its a phenomenon... therefore the public has more responsibilities... I just wish and pray that they understand their responsibilities'' John snapped.
" I think I have given the sufficient information about the case ... thank you" John turned to leave the press conference. On the way the reporters were blocking his way to ask questions. The other police helped him to reach his vehicle though the jam pack crowd of reporters.

... contd..

Ch-66A: Zero mystery ( Online Novel - Zero )

Next day the news flashed in all the news papers under various headings-
‘ Zero mystery solved at last’
‘ Zero mystery - a different move by the Enemy’
‘ Zero mystery - a war waged by the Enemy’
‘ Zero mystery - Police departments internal differences exposed’
‘ Zero mystery - an incident or a phenomenon’
‘ Zero mystery - At last solved by a dismissed police officer’
‘ Dr. Kayum Khan - Father of Zero Mystery’
‘ Dr. Kayum Khan and Vinay Joshi two ends of the single thread’
On TV channels also there were no news other than ‘Zero mystery’. On one side people were happy that at last the puzzle was solved, while on the other side the seriousness of the incident and the fear of its long term consequences were visible on their faces. These chaos of truth and lies gave rise to new rumors. Now it was necessary for somebody to guide the people and put forth the truth in front of them.
The riots were cooled down in the city by now. But still there were in between outbursts. Now it was important and necessary to give people the information about the purpose of the ‘Zero mystery’, therefore the police department had called the press conference. There was no doubt about the John’s contribution towards solving the ‘Zero mystery’. Police department also had shown the same enthusiasm to give him credit, the enthusiasm with which they had dismissed him earlier. Reporters from not only the city but also from all ends of the world had come to attend the press conference. As soon as John reached the press conference, the wave of energy ran through the reporters, flashlights were continuously flashing on John. A flash of thought, like the flash of lights ahead, ran though John’s mind-
Since Anjeni was killed, John had thrown himself completely in the case ..
But what next..
After the case calms down, the crowd was not going to around him forever...
Again he was going to be alone..
And again the same despair... the pain of loosing Anjeni..
While he thought, he reached the bunch of microphones kept on the table, tagged with TV channels. He stood in front of the reporter crowd with the pain of loosing Anjeni at the same time pride of solving the case.

... cond...

Ch-65: Paper roll ( Online Novel - Zero )

After midnight Vinay came to the Dr. Kaum’s bungalow with full preparation.
It may be possible to enter the Bungalow from backside...
Vinay thought, as the Bungalow was isolated from the other houses. He looked around to make sure that he is not been observed and started to move to the back side of the Bungalow.
A black car was standing far from the place so that Vinay could not see it. John and Sam were observing the activities of Vinay from their binoculars.
“ I think... its the right time to catch him... Otherwise it would be too late” Sam expressed his opinion.
“ No... Not now... I am sure he is not going in to continue his murders sequence ...” John said without moving his eyes from the binoculars.
“ Then what do you think for he is going in?” Sam asked.
“ That’s what we are here to find” John said.
As Vinay turned to go to the back side of the Bungalow, John and Sam got alert. They came out of their vehicle when Vinay went out of their sight.
The hall was dark where Vinay stood. A room ahead was open and a dim light was coming through it. He aimed his gun at the open door and moved slowly at it. Some shadow in the room, sitting in a dark on a chair, came into his sight. The shadow's face was on the other side, sitting relaxed with his legs spread. As Vinay was slowly and cautiously moving towards the shadow, he heard harsh warding words from his behind,
" Hands up... throw the gun"
John and Sam had covered him with their guns. They were also able to see the shadow sitting in the next room. Vinay was not ready for this unexpected development, he startled, fumbled and dropped the gun on the ground raising his hands. The shadow sat in the next room moved his wheel chair towards them and was getting up.
" Don't move" Johns warning echoed.
Vinay stood as he was, without moving a bit. The shadow in the next room also sat back on the chair.
But what's this...
The shadow had a gun in his hand...
As soon as Sam saw the gun in his hand, he fired at him series of bullets.
" No..." John tried to take away gun from Sam.
'Thud' ... 'Thud' they heard two sounds. One was of the shadow following and the other of Vinay following down. In an attempt to prevent Sam from firing, a bullet hit Vinay's forehead.
" What happened to you?" John said with fury.
" If I would not have shoot he would have shoot us" Sam said.
Sam ran to the shadow fallen done and John ran to Vinay's body. Sam switched on the main bulb in the study room. An aged person, Dr. Kayum Khan, with white long beard and completely removed mustache was fallen on the ground. His body was fallen on the tiny heap of the ash formed due to burning some documents or a book. The ash was spread everywhere. Sam was astonished to see a small paper role in Dr. Kayum's hand, which he misunderstood as a gun.
" Shit what a fool I am" Sam blamed himself.
Sam sat on his toes to check Dr. Kayum's beat, which was already stopped.
" He is dead" Sam said, as if to self.
John looked at Vinay's body fallen on the ground. He was still screaming in agony. He sat on toes near him and checked his wound and his possibility of survival.
" Whatever happens, we must at least save him." John said.
He removed his mobile from his pocket and dialed a number.
Sam pulled the paper role from Dr. Kayum's partly closed fist. He opened the role. The paper was filled with various dates and the times. Somewhere it was mentioned as "favorable time" somewhere it was mentioned as "very suitable time". On the other hand somewhere it was mentioned as " risky time''. In the paper almost Dr. Kayum's life history was mentioned. While reading, his attention went to the end of the paper.
" My God!" the words came out of his mouth.
" John" Sam went to John.
John had called the Ambulance from the hospital.
" John ... Look at this" Sam hold the paper in front of John.
John picked up it, went thought it and throwing it to side said,
" Now a day's Astrology has become a fashion"
Sam picked up the paper and showed John the dates and times written at the end of the paper.
" Look here.. From Date 17 time 12 ..to 3 days onwards it is mentioned as 'Risky time' and look here On 17 at night 12 to 2 its mentioned as 'very risky time'"
John took the paper to have a closer look. He looked in the watch it was 1 past 5 minutes in the watch and the date today was exactly 17.
John was speechless, looking at the paper with astonishment. Vinay was still screaming with agony on the ground where John stood. He must have heard what Sam read for John. He must have been convinced about the knowledge his boss had. Taking a long last breath Vinay's head turned to a side and his whole body became motionless. He was dead, but his wish, to acquire the knowledge his boss had, was not fulfilled...

.. contd..

Ch-64: Dr. Kayum Khan ( Online Novel - Zero )

Command2 alias Vinay was roaming in the area as usual to search his Boss. He used to search him in this area almost daily. He used to take care that Boss should not recognize him. He had completed almost hundred visits in this area, but still with hope and not ready to leave the efforts. Persistence was one of his qualities therefore he was still stuck up with the organization. Today evening he was almost exhausted, as he roamed around the whole day. The situation in the city was now calmed down. Recently he had got his boss’s message informing him about starting the new series of killings in the new city. Boss never wanted to the situation to be calmed down. That way there was still time to start the mission in the new city. But Vinay was not interested in the mission in the other cities, as he wanted to pull curtains down of the game he had started as early as possible. But he was not getting an important thread to pull. When he was thinking he came to the premises of a building of which a construction was going on. In fact he was searching for a place to sit so that he could relax, as he was already exhausted. He looked around; saw a huge heap of sand.
It’s the better place to sit and relax...
He thought. Without bothering whether somebody would see him or somebody would recognize him, he sat on the sand heap.
Around 200 meters far from the place where Vinay sat a black car was parked to the side of the road. The inside of the car was not visible as the Car’s colored glass windows were closed. But John and Sam were observing all the activities of Vinay through their binoculars.
“ It’s almost 5 days toady we are right behind him.. I am unable to get what the hell he is searching in this area” Sam said irritated.
“ I think that’s where the secret of murders is hidden” John said.
“ But how many days we are going to chase him like this?” Sam asked.
“ Till he gets what he wants”
“ May be he is searching his next murder victim”
“ That’s what we are here to find... But I don’t think so” John said.
While Vinay sat, he happened to look at the bungalow ahead. On the entrance pillar a name was carved, must be owner’s name, he thought. Vinay casually read it, “Dr. Kayum Khan”
Vinay read it again,
“ Dr. Kaym Khan”
Seems to be heard somewhere... or read somewhere...
He tried to recall by pressing hard his mind. That way he used to feel all the Muslim names alike, may be that’s the reason he was felt like he was known to him. When he was pondering over, suddenly, some machine noise started to come from his behind. Due to this unexpected loud noise he got almost startled and stood up suddenly. He looked behind. The building construction work was going on and the ready mix concrete machine was started just now. He was about to leave the place, when a realization stroke him.
“ My God” the words came out of his mouth.
He again read the name carved on the entrance pillar ahead and again looked back at the ready mix concrete machine. All the puzzles he had in his mind were immediately solved.
Dr. Kayum khan... he is the co-author of the research paper on Aryabhatta, which I read...
And the machine noise once he had heard on boss’s phone while conversation.
“ That means... Dr. Kayum Khan is our Boss!”
He was elated and energized now. He rushed towards Dr. Kayum Khan’s home. But again, stopped abruptly.
No... not now...
I must wait for the proper time and I must be preplanned enough...
Somehow he managed to stop himself.
... cond...

Ch-63: Record Details ( Online Novel - Zero )

Sam and John sat in front of the computer. A software was running on the computer, using which they were tallying the fingerprints they had with the huge number of criminal fingerprints stored in the database. The database contained millions of criminal fingerprints. To match the fingerprints with each and every fingerprint was difficult task unless they had a computer and a special software to match them. Within a second the software was matching it with thousands of criminal records, that to precisely and not leaving behind a single minute detail. According to their calculation the record would be searched within few minutes. They were looking at the monitor waiting eagerly to get the match. A counter was running fast on the monitor showing how many records were tallied till the point. The counter, by this time, was reached beyond 700000. Suddenly the counter stopped at 757092, with the popped up message - ‘Record Found’. They exchanged delighted looks and looked again at the monitor to read the record. The record read -

- Record details -
Name - Vinay Joshi
Age - 30
Crime - Forgery
Identification mark - Six fingers to the left hand.
Nationality - American

Both read the criminal’s information. It showed his photographs too, three photos, taken from left, right and front sides.
“This information we need to send immediately to all the police stations” Sam said.
“ Yes .. you are right.. but I am afraid..”
Sam gave him a quizzical look.
“ What if this time too the information is leaked?’’ John expressed his concern.
“ No.. this time it will not leak.. The culprit Dan is no more now, he had got the punishment of his deeds.” Sam said.
Then they sent the information including the photographs of the criminal to the all city police stations. And they warned to keep an eye on him if anybody finds him, since he could just be a piece in the overall game. The real criminal could be somebody else. To find the real criminal it was necessary and important to go at the bottom of the whole thing.

... contd..

Ch-62: A blossomed creeper ( Online Novel - Zero )

To the right side of the bungalow a creeper was blossomed with scented white flowers. The creeper was climbed up to the terrace taking the support of wall, window and the pipe running upwards. John looked at the creeper right from the bottom to the top in the flashlight of the torch. The creeper was crowded with bunches of flowers. Then he observed it from top to bottom. At the bottom of the creeper there was garbage accumulated, like scribbled paper pieces, empty polythene bags, broken material etc. John sat on toes and started to rummage through the garbage. He removed a plastic bag from his pocket and started to collect the things from the garbage, which he felt useful or important. After he searched the garbage thoroughly, he shook the creeper holding it tight. Showers of flowers fall on him and with it some other falling sound he heard. He checked with his torch; it was still more garbage fallen, entangled in the creeper above. Again he sorted it out and bagged some of it. He found a polythene bag knotted at the top. He shook it to guess what is in it, and bagged it too, making a mental note to check it carefully afterwards.
It’s too late.. it’s better to leave now..
He picked up the bag and went to the part of the fence from where he entered.
He reached home by 4 am in the morning. He was too tired because of the exertion and the injury. He kept the plastic bag below on the ground, and taking care of the injured hand opened the door. He remembered, once when he was injured in an accident, Anjeni had escorted him and helped him to open the door. As he recalled of her his mind filled with grief and rage. Suddenly he realized that the whiskey bottle for which he went out was totally slipped out of his mind.
As he opened the door and looked at the polythene bag kept below, he felt better; realizing that he had at least one job at hand to forget his grief - to search the collected garbage for the possible clues.
He entered the house picking up the polythene bag, closed back the door. He sat on the sofa and went through each and every piece of paper he sorted from the garbage.
He finished reading the pieces of paper in the garbage but didn't find anything useful. Then he turned his attention towards the polythene bags he collected from the garbage. He opened each and every polythene bag carefully, to find rotten groundnuts sometimes or some rotten eating stuff with pungent rotten smell. At last he found the knotted polythene bag for which he had made a mental note to check it carefully. He opened the knot and moved his head away to avoid himself from the bad smell. But to his surprise it didn't smelled. He peeked in; broken pieces of glass were inside.
Must be of broken wine glass...
He thought. He got up from the sofa and sat on the mat. He carefully dropped those pieces of glass on the mat. Some pieces were spotted with dried blood.
It must be killer's blood...
He picked up a piece carefully to have a closer look.
Can these spots be useful to get to the killer ...
He was checking all possibilities, when suddenly his eyes blinked with happiness. He found the marks of some fingerprints on the piece.
" Yess!" He celebrated the victory.
He checked the other pieces. They also had fingerprints. He picked those pieces and rushed to the phone, dialed a number.
" Sam... I am coming to you... right now.. I have got an important clue'' He said enthusiastically on the phone.

... contd..

Ch-61: Inside the compound. ( Online Novel - Zero )

Holding the bleeding hand with the other, John got up. It was bleeding badly so he removed kerchief from his pocket and wrapped the wound with it tightly. He went to the main door of the Bungalow, holding the paining hand carefully. It was also locked and sealed with the police department seal. He ventured around to check out the possibilities to get into the bungalow. To get in seemed to be impossible, at least from the front side. Last time while inspecting the bungalow he was with his team. He was sure about the inspection inside as he was always with them. But he was not sure about the inspection outside, as he had given the responsibility to some new trainee team member. So he decided to inspect the portion around the bungalow. That way the possibility of getting something outside was very rare, as time span passed in between was huge. And the chances of clues outside getting destroyed were more than the clues inside.
Still I should be optimistic..
He warned himself.
Probably while probing I may get some way to get in ...
He removed the torch from his pocket, which he always used to carry. In the flashlight of the torch he started to go to the back of the bungalow from right side. He was also checking the possible vulnerable points like broken or breakable windows etc to intrude in. There were windows but with tough iron nets.
There could be some window with the net broken at places, like the fence wire was broken...
In the open space around the bungalows was the garden, seemed to be not looked after from quite a long time. The grass and other weeds were grown till the waist height. In the dark John was making way through the grass and the weeds with the help of the torch. Due to these high grown weeds it was difficult to find the proofs even if they exited. On the other hand there was a benefit to of the grown weeds that if the proof existed, it could have been secured safely. In the flash light of the torch John reached to the back of the bungalow. The backside door also had iron net; the single probable possibility of intrusion was also dismissed. He searched the back side, to find nothing important. Slowly searching through the bottom of the weeds he completed a complete round around the house. The open space also had no proofs. The nets of all windows were intact.
So there is no possibility of intrusion... at least today..
To get in I should take help of Sam later sometime...
And it is better to check the compound portion again in the daylight ...
He thought and turned to leave the premise. Suddenly a flash of thought ran through his mind. He stopped abruptly, turned and rushed to the left side of the bungalow.

... contd..